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I am on a roll with oriental pastries lately but I gonna move to breads next week. I made hopia again because of my dad's request. If you've been reading my blogs, you probably know it already. Well if you still haven't, hopia is a pastry of Fujianese origin made with flaky pastry filled with various fillings from bean paste to sweet pork. I always want to improve it because it is one of my dad's favorite.

It has been a very long time since I baked a loaf without sourdough.  In addition, this was a same day bake.  I thought it was delicious.  11% whole rye, 11% whole wheat.  The funny thing is, my wife said right off the bat, "this bread is different than usual"  I asked what she meant, and she said that my other breads have a sweeter flavor that she liked more.  To be honest, I thought this bread was so good that I'd be happy to make it again.

When I started making sourdough bread three weeks ago, I did not have much of the equipment. I'm currently not living apartment, but in a house with four students, so I had to make do with what I found. There are no clay pans in the house, so that was not an option. I read a lot about baking vessels and wanted to replicate a dutch oven, which many seem to prefer when making sourdough bread. I got a pizza stone in my apartment, but not here.

What a great bread. I am a big fan of fruit and nut breads. I made a couple changes and am pleased with the result. I doubled the formula so have two huge boules. I added 2 scant tsp. diastatic malt powder to the mix. I used 250 g diced Turkish figs and local pecans. I subbed in 200 g of my very active AYW for part of the liquid. I have a white starter at present that was converted the day before from rye so used that. This is a great dough to work with. I got massive oven spring.

This is the first time I’ve tried adding anything to my basic SD loaf. The formula is based on Alan’s Fig and Pecan loaf (I couldn’t get pecans so I made do with what I had!). 

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/45670/double-scoring-figpecan-ww-levain

I really don't like figs, or at least i remember hating them when i tried them. But when i tried nibbling on one, the taste really wasn't as objectionable as i remember, so i decided to give it a go. 

 Here’s my formula:

Edit 11/2020 

The recipe is now behind a paywall but originally was not.

These two pictures are from a later run once I was comfortable with the process.

Gave croissants another try. Definitely getting better at them.

I messed up and didn't have milk on hand when making the dough, so I substituted water and milk powder. I was eating some plain whole yogurt at the time and decided to toss some of that in too!

I used a new butter for this, a European-style 83% butterfat one. 

Hi Everyone,

Does anyone know or have a Bakers Percentage Spreadsheet?  I am in desperate need of one.

Thank you,

Nancy

Last Sunday 24th April my son and his lovely wife had their first child, our first Grandson :)

I decided to create a new starter on the same day in celebration! (the plan being if possible to keep this one going forever...... a sort of family heirloom!)

A continuation of my yeast water exploration this is a shot at making a classic sandwich loaf. It is 40% whole grain, a combination of Turkey Red, Durum,  and white wheats (I was using up the last bits of the canning jars the grain is stored in) and 60% AP a local store brand that I find comparable to KAF. There is DMS, butter and an egg also. Most of the hydration comes from the yeast water and the water half of my recently refreshed starter of which 120g was used in the loaf containing 500g total other flour.